Semi-Transcendent

Growing desperate, Lucifer threw the sword he was holding, but the hand that had snatched Yuseong and his companions had already vanished into the spatial rift just as it had appeared.

A strange floating sensation like falling into space, and vision dyed in multiple colors.

Amid bizarre sounds and colors he had never heard before, Yuseong squeezed his eyes shut at the feeling of something watching him.

How much time had passed?

After what felt like both an instant and an eternity, when the floating sensation disappeared, Yuseong slowly opened his eyes.

“Cough! Cough!”

“…I really thought I was going to die.”

After confirming Dragonia’s familiar scenery, Olga and Kang Changseok collapsed on either side, and finally Sophia holding his head, Yuseong let his tension go and spoke.

“…What about Alice and Kasim?”

“They escaped on their own and are returning now. Alice did an amazing job.”

“That’s a relief. By the way, could you let go of my head now?”

“Ah. Sorry. But this is really fascinating. A hat where you can just think and reach in to instantly pull out whatever target you want. It doesn’t seem to be magic or sorcery – I can’t even begin to guess the principles behind it. Could I experiment with it a little?”

“Nope. Not happening.”

Yuseong snatched Hendrik’s silk hat from Sophia’s hands.

A mysterious item that could retrieve desired objects transcending limitations of space, size, and weight.

Originally he had planned to gather everyone and use it to call out one enemy for a group beatdown, but thinking about it now, there wasn’t really anyone suitable to call out.

Changwei was out of the question due to lack of information about skills, items, stats, etc.

With Lucifer there was a higher chance of getting dragged out instead of catching him, and with Bruce there was no guarantee of definite capture.

That left only Isaac or Ryuhei, but they weren’t worth spending the silk hat’s remaining two uses on.

So he came up with the idea of entrusting the silk hat to someone and using it as an escape route in case of emergency.

And Sophia, who could monitor the ground through satellites, was the perfect person for that role.

‘Thought we’d use them all but one use is left. Well, it’ll come in handy sometime.’

After tossing the silk hat into subspace, Yuseong looked at Sophia and asked the question he’d been holding back.

“What happened with the barrier?”

“See for yourself.”

As Sophia gestured, dozens of hologram screens showing the border region appeared in midair.

Missiles that had been exploding in the air without fail over the past few days were now passing through where the barrier had been, and shells fired from tanks and self-propelled artillery were devastating vast areas.

There were still places where the barrier remained, but it couldn’t even block a few shells before breaking and regenerating repeatedly.

“The White House contacted us. They said they’ll stop the attacks and move the 7th Fleet to the West Sea.”

“Well, that’s to be expected.”

The endless barrage of missiles and shells that seemed like it would go on forever gradually began decreasing from a certain point before completely stopping.

The current goal of the countries attacking the Human Alliance wasn’t war, but rather getting the Human Alliance to ease immigration conditions and retrieve ability users, manpower, and resources that had left their countries.

When the barrier was up, they could attack freely knowing the other side wouldn’t take damage, but ironically once the barrier disappeared, they could no longer attack.

It could potentially lead to real war, worst case a third world war.

In the current situation, even without nuclear weapons being used, humanity wouldn’t be able to avoid extinction if war broke out.

That wasn’t what Changwei or Yuseong wanted.

“Mr. Yuseong? Changwei sent a message.”

“What did he say?”

“He said: Got your gift. Will return it twofold.”

“Tell him there are still gifts left. And spread all the torture facility data Olga collected last time and part of the mass-produced goggles information to each government, the internet, and broadcasting stations.”

“Is that really okay? The reaction will be intense…”

“That’s exactly why we’re doing it.”

If the barrier was still intact, spreading the information wouldn’t have had much impact.

In a situation where they were already being cursed at for indiscriminately sucking up ability users, manpower, and resources from around the world, stories about forced detention facilities or torture would have been like a drop in the ocean.

But now things were different.

War breaking out due to the information being spread now was extremely unlikely.

However, with the barrier gone and the possibility of mutual destruction through war no longer being zero, even that slim possibility would be a huge burden for Changwei.

“The reactions are good.”

Yuseong whistled softly after briefly browsing the internet on his smartphone.

With the world’s attention already focused on the Human Alliance, not much time had passed since spreading the data but NewTube, SNS, and portal sites were all in an uproar.

‘This should buy us a few days. That’s enough.’

“Sophia, how much longer until the mass-produced goggles stabilization work is done?”

“About three more days.”

“And we can start mass production right after that’s done?”

“We’ve already produced and assembled all the goggle bodies and checked parts. All that’s left are the parts being tested now, and the activation work for you and Mr. Kasim.”

“Then we’re done.”

A bright smile spread across Yuseong’s face.

Once the goggles are mass-produced and karma collection begins in earnest, his victory is assured.

No matter what moves Changwei makes, he won’t be able to turn the situation around.

Lucifer?

This side can regularly mass-produce transcendents.

Wonder how Changwei and the other users will react when they learn that fact?

“Um, Mr. Yuseong? I think you need to see this…”

“Did another message come?”

“No, that’s not it…”

Sophia’s somewhat dazed voice reached Yuseong’s ears as he was grinning while thinking about the pleasant future that would soon become reality.

And when he turned his head, Yuseong froze.

A city was being shown on the massive hologram filling the room.

‘Beijing?’

Though it was an unfamiliar city, he could tell it was Beijing from the Tiananmen Gate visible in one corner.

The quality wasn’t very good since it seemed to be an internet broadcast, and the chatter of someone who appeared to be a streamer kept coming through, but that wasn’t what was important right now.

Something massive was floating above Beijing.

It was so huge that the screen couldn’t even fully capture its form.

“Just a moment.”

As Sophia gestured, the screen changed several times before showing footage that seemed to be shot from a helicopter, completely capturing the fortress’s form from above.

A fortress in the shape of two hexagrams overlapping at angles.

Unlike Dragonia which resembled a city, it looked like a castle-type fortress built for defense against bombardment.

Yuseong knew what this aerial fortress was.

A strategic weapon created to destroy the demon realm.

“…Vimana.”

“An aerial fortress? Wait. 12km in length?! Impossible! What kind of aerial fortress is bigger than a space battleship?”

Dragonia’s length was 10km.

Not that small compared to Vimana.

But that was only when Dragonia was in complete condition.

Dragonia had dismantled its outer sections to obtain materials and parts needed for repairs, and had also separated some areas to eliminate Harnak, the culprit behind the undead incident that had nearly brought Europe to the brink of extinction.

As a result, Dragonia’s current length was just over 8km.

About half the size of Vimana.

A half size difference might not matter for small structures, but for massive structures approaching kilometer scale, it was truly overwhelming.

Beep!

“Changwei sent another message.”

“…What did he say?”

“He said: Coming to deliver your gift now.”

“…”

After a moment of silence, Yuseong muttered in a low voice.

“Looks like we need to move up the stabilization work timeline.”

“…I’ll try my best.”

* * *

“Oh my! I had no idea Mr. Changwei also had an aerial fortress!”

“…So this is Vimana. I heard it wouldn’t move without the Prime Code, what trick did he use?”

In a massive hall with countless jeweled crests on the ceiling and golden banners woven into the walls.

Changwei sat at the head of a huge rectangular table in the center, with Lucifer and the users seated to his left and right.

Ignoring Isaac and Ryuhei who were chattering noisily, Changwei looked at Bruce sitting right next to him.

“I seem to recall hearing that you could win if fighting at full strength.”

“…”

“The great Bruce couldn’t possibly have lost fighting at full strength… Ah! Your injuries from last time haven’t healed yet? Well that can’t be helped then. Next time you’ll be able to fight at full strength?”

Crack!

“…I’ll handle that pile of scrap metal myself, so shut up.”

At Bruce’s murderous voice, Changwei closed his mouth with a faint smile.

Having scratched that arrogant pride this much in front of others, he definitely won’t fail next time.

“Isaac. How’s the condition of the Royal Knights?”

“In peak condition. Ready to fight anytime.”

“Depending on your achievements in this war, we might accept more British people into the Human Alliance… Can I expect great things from the Ark Knight and Royal Knights?”

“…Of course.”

“Ryuhei. I’ll need to borrow your equipment to win with minimal casualties.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll give you everything except my main equipment.”

After easily persuading Isaac and Ryuhei, Changwei turned to look at Lucifer.

It was incredibly unfamiliar seeing Lucifer, who was always insufferably arrogant, wearing such a serious expression.

Changwei paused briefly before speaking.

“Just what happened between you and that guy?”

Upon returning to Vimana, Lucifer had suddenly insisted they must kill Yuseong.

Though he had deployed Vimana accepting the opinion due to the humiliation of having carefully built facilities and towers destroyed without catching a single intruder, he was extremely curious why Lucifer was wearing such a serious expression.

After a moment of silence, Lucifer slowly opened his mouth.

“Han Yuseong. That guy has reached the realm of transcendents.”

“…What?”

Bang!

Changwei asked back stupidly while Bruce stood up slamming the table.

Isaac and Ryuhei understood Lucifer’s words a beat later and were shocked.

“No, maybe not quite the transcendent realm? He definitely wasn’t carrying divinity. …But then how did he use karma? Did I misunderstand something? No. Seeing how he broke through karma-based defense, it’s certain.”

After muttering to himself for a while, Lucifer spoke in a sour voice.

“…Not quite transcendent – semi-transcendent would be the proper term.”